Shanghai Eats Part II

Shanghai, having been a port of foreign trade for centuries longer than Seoul (our current city of residence), offers a much wider variety of cosmopolitan dining choices, whether one's aim is a convivial or romantic evening out. It seemed a shame to miss out on these. We were spoilt for choice and short on time, but we did take numerous coffee breaks (Costas Coffee is a great alternative to Starbucks, by the way), enjoyed premium French baked goods and, one night, went all out for some haute French cuisine at the 3-Michelin star Jean Georges. And, of course, we couldn't miss out on the city's famed soup dumplings (小籠包 / xiǎolóngbāo).

Some restaurant reviews below....
Shanghai Eats Part I here.


1. Rhubarb Tart, 2. Daan Taat, 3. Scallion pancake, 4. Jelly Donut, 5. Mini Cheese Tart, 6. Chun1 bing (春餅), 7. You doufu niu rou fen si tang (油豆腐牛肉粉絲湯), 8. More shengjian mantou (生煎饅頭), 9. More shengjian mantou (生煎饅頭), 10. Hotpot, 11. Egg toast with caviar and dill / Uni sashimi on toast, 12. Egg caviar / Sea scallops with caper-raisin emulsion


Paul 30元 - 100元
On Dongqing Lu near Hengshan Lu we stopped in at Paul's, a French bakery chain with several stores in Shanghai. After ogling their pastry case for a while, we finally settled on a rhubarb tart and a raspberry jelly donut, and both were just what the stomachs ordered. Maybe I'm especially enamored of Paul's because delicious French pastries are so hard to come by in Seoul. If I lived in Shanghai, Paul's would be a regular stop for their excellent coffee.

Lillian Cake Shop (莉莲蛋挞 / Lì Lián Dàn Tà) 10元
Normally, I would not have thought to seek out egg tarts in Shanghai since they are mainly known as Hong Kong and Macao treats. But we stumbled upon Lillian Cake Shop while walking along Huaihai Zhong Road one afternoon and noticed a long line of eager patrons. The piping hot "dàn tà" proved to be a delicious revelation. The folks at Lillian should just go ahead and give everyone spoons with their order; their egg custard is so silkenly smooth that once you bite into the flaky pastry crust the entire contents just come spilling out into your palm. Clearly I wasn't the only delighted customer; nearly everyone else walking away from the bakery stand was making a similar mess of themselves. Since Lillian Cakes' egg tarts were so good, we went back to see what other magic they could produce. The little berry-topped mini-cheesecakes were also excellent, but those egg tarts are definitely something to write home to Mom about.

Xiao Yang's Shengjian Shop (小楊生煎館 / Xiao Yang Sheng Jian Guan )
Fried buns (shēngjiān mántou / 生煎饅頭) 4.5元
Tofu & beef vermicelli noodle soup (you doufu niu rou fen si tang / 油豆腐牛肉粉絲湯) 8元
Pork wontons (jing rou xiao hun tun / 精肉小餛飩) 5元

Huanghe Lu north of People's Square is normally busy with bustling restaurant traffic, but on Sunday morning the eating establishments were all closed or cleaning up from a late Saturday crowd. At 10am, however, one canteen was open and receiving a constant stream of customers, so we promptly went up to the counter of Xiao Yang's and scored ourselves a plate of fried buns for breakfast. In contrast to the buns we'd had the day before on Shanxi Nan Lu, these buns were a little oily and just a tad soggy. We ordered two other dishes to supplement our fried buns: a bowl of tofu and beef vermicelli soup, and some wonton soup. The noodles came in a somewhat oily broth, but the wonton soup was a pretty good value; at only 5元 (about .75 U.S. cents) it had more wontons than I had ever seen put together in one bowl.

After getting home and going through my photos, I Googled "小楊生煎館" and discovered that Xiao Yang's is a little bit famous in Internet-land for their shēngjiān mántou. Here's a blog post from Rasa Malaysia singing their praises, and here's an NPR article. Perhaps we caught them at an off-hour (Sunday morning?) or maybe they've gone downhill, but I think one can do just as good if not better at many other street-side bun stands in Shanghai. So definitely don't feel restricted by what the guidebooks tell you; follow your nose!

Jia Family's Soup Dumplings (佳家湯包 / Jia Jia Tang Bao)
Crab & pork soup dumplings (xìe fěn xīan ròu tāng bāo / 蟹粉鮮肉湯包) 19.5元
Seaweed & egg flower soup (zǐ cài dàn hūa tāng / 紫菜蛋花湯) 2元
Shredded ginger (shēng jiāng si / 生姜絲) 1元

After we walked off our breakfast, we were ready for some soup dumplings! It was still well before lunch, but across the street from Xiao Yang's, a long line was already forming at Jia Jia Tang Bao. We joined the line -- a mix of tourists and locals -- and waited nearly 20 minutes to order the crab roe and pork dumplings. They were quite good; each dumpling churned out by the busy kitchen was well formed out of a thin but surprisingly firm handmade dumpling skin, and each contained a healthy portion of savory soup and meat. My tip, if you ever find yourself at Jia Jia, is that you can forgo the seaweed soup that they recommend, but the 1元 shredded ginger is a slightly more exciting dipping condiment than plain old soy sauce. A whole steamer full of 12 soup dumplings and a bowl of soup for the equivalent of about US$3.30... wow!

Later on, I Googled "Jia Jia Tang Bao" and discovered that, like "Xiao Yang's" they're, like, famous or something. Hence the long line and the long wait. The soup dumplings were indeed very good but I would say that their main area of distinction is the value. Despite the low price, the quality was stellar. In our steamer there was not a single dud dumpling, while I've found that at Din Tai Fung in Seoul or Joe's Shanghai in New York, there's always a busted bun or two. A blog post on Siuyeh, a discussion on Chowhound, and a review at the China Daily.

Xin Hua Cheng Seafood Hotpot（新花城鲍鱼海鲜火锅）
We tried this place out mainly because it was right next to our hotel and, every evening, as we returned weary-legged from hours of sight-seeing, we would find ourselves gazing into Xin Hua's giant picture windows to see these big happy groups of diners surrounding steaming pots of goodness.

Hotpot here is served shabu-shabu style; you order your meats and veggies (of which there is a vast variety), per serving, off a picture menu. The meats, seafood and vegetables are all fresh and high quality, and you can elect to boil everything in your choice of soup (as opposed to plain water) for added flavor. They didn't speak much English, but service was attentive (there always seemed to be a server hovering nearby to answer our questions). All in all, a delicious date spot that, if it were in NY or Seoul, I'd be sure to return to.

But I'll admit that, after trekking around Shanghai and having hearty, filling meals for as little as 3 or 4元, we just assumed that this hotpot joint wouldn't be too expensive either. Our mistake; we should have guessed that, based on their location in the French Concession (right next to a 4-star hotel, no less), their prices would be a bit elevated from those of establishments in other parts of the city. We ended up spending almost 300元 per person for our dinner, which really just included a basic mix of beef, fishballs and veggies. Yikes, those are New York City prices! We could have eaten over 400 steamed pork buns for that amount!

Jean Georges Shanghai
Seasonal (spring) tasting menu, about 880元
Jean Georges tasting menu, about 880元

Based on the website, the Jean Georges Shanghai and NY tasting menus, as well as their prices, seem pretty similar if not identical. Gavin and I tried each other's Jean Georges and the Spring tasting menus. Each tasting menu came with an amuse-bouche, six courses and a dessert tasting. The lighting was dim but I did manage to eek out a few blurry photos of the food. I guess this will be a comparatively longer review than the ones above, but that's just because... well, we paid a lot for our meals....

My favorites from the spring tasting menu:
The uni toast seems to have been an off-the-cuff replacement for what is normally listed in their online menu as "sashimi of madai." I really do like sea urchins. Specifically I love the raw sea urchin gonads known as uni. A perfect uni sashimi tastes like a little, sweetened, golden bit of the ocean. It might not be right to give Jean Georges ALL of the credit.... I mean, the sea urchins gave up their lives and offspring and the chef put them on a piece of toast. Who do you think made the greater sacrifice? But anyways, why quibble when there is something tasty on your tongue? Yay for Jean Georges uni toast!

Secondly, I quite liked the frog legs... they were meaty -- almost like chicken drumsticks -- and not gamey or stringy at all, which is what I'd come to expect of frog legs. But I kinda think the dish called "young garlic soup with thyme and sautéed frog legs on the side" might be more accurately called "Sautéed frog legs with young garlic soup on the side," as the garlic soup wasn't anything to speak of. Maybe that's because I like my garlic strong. What's the point of subtle garlic? As for the frog legs. Hmm... yes, I do think that frog died for a good cause. Passed both my (admittedly morbid) "is it tastier than the animal is cute?" and "did a small animal deserve to die for this dish?" tests.

My favorites from the Jean Georges tasting menu:
The "sea scallops with caper-raisin emulsion and topped with caramelized cauliflower" were great; I really felt like all the parts of this dish were coming together. Sometimes at fancy-pants dining establishments, you get the feeling that they put some different things together into one dish simply because the words sound poetic in print. But the cauliflower really was caramelized and crispy, and there really was a zing-y caper-raisin emulsion and they all made sense together on top of the mellow & tender pillows of sea scallops.

The "broiled squab onion compote with corn pancake and foie gras" was a bit of a surprise. Actually, when Gavin ordered, the server asked if he wanted it rare, medium or well-done. A bit taken off guard, he ordered it medium-rare, and when the sixth course finally arrived we realized why. I never realized a bird could taste so much like red meat! There wasn't a hint of gamey-ness. If blindfolded, I could not have told you that was a bird. Wait, is that a good thing? Should a bird taste like a mammal? Should one be eating medium-rare poultry? Well anyways, that was the dish where I stopped worrying and learned to love me some pigeon.

Finally, I have to say the dessert was my favorite part of the meal. Seeing a large plate with 4 different desserts, all so prettily arranged, land before you kinda feels like Christmas. My Chocolate tasting was like death by chocolate -- death by really good chocolate. There was a warm molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, creme brulee served in an egg shell with chocolate caviar topping, a very rich brownie and a hot chocolate drink in a cute little cup paired with biscotti. Gavin's Citrus dessert tasting was much lighter fare than my chocolate platter. Although some of the desserts on his plate looked somewhat similar to mine (the plating at Jean Georges definitely follows a distinct style), the tastes were completely different.

So, all in all, the presentation of a Jean Georges meal is, like its view Pudong skyline, amazing. There is definitely at least as much thought and care put into the "design" of each dish -- especially the appetizers and desserts -- as there is put into the recipes themselves. But sometimes I couldn't help feeling that Jean Georges was just a LITTLE too pleased with himself. Case in point: seeing a tiny little bit of pricey foie ras and caviar on top of a crispy slice of toast was cute at first. But then came some scrambled eggs and fennel sandwiched between some more crispy toast. And then came the uni sashimi on toast. At that point I was expecting all the subsequent courses to come on toast, which thankfully did not happen. Another example: the "scrambled eggs served in the shell topped with whipped crème fraiche and caviar," served in an egg cup. It's a beautiful, alliterative, altogether egg-cellent presentation. And, as a witty punch-line, just in case you did not get the egg-in-an-egg-topped-with-eggs joke, in the chocolate dessert course there's a dish that looks egg-actly the same -- the "creme brulee served in an egg shell with chocolate caviar topping" ! Okay, okay, I get it.... I love a corny pun myself, but when it comes to food, I'm not really a high concept person, so this grated on me a little bit.

Honestly, all the food was super well-prepared, technically proficient, quite tasty and, in 1 or 2 cases, surprising. Of course, for the price one should expect at least that much. But after hearing so much about this 3-Michelin-starred chef, I really wanted to be floored by this meal, to have some sort of revelatory taste experience. So when factoring in what we paid for these 2 meals -- about several months salary for the average Chinese citizen -- I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed. We both were. The fancy presentation and the view were nice, but the taste just did not blow either of us away.

It's one month since our Shanghai trip and delicious food memories linger on our tastebuds, but it's not scrambled eggs and caviar we've been reminiscing about. Gavin still talks about that .7元 steamed pork bun, though, and me... I could really use a 7元 bowl of knife-shaved noodles...